Tintinnabulation
by pockyglutton
Summary: Tintinnabulation, the sound of bells. The sound that goes off in Riku's head when he finds an unconscious girl in Sora's room. Wait, what? While out in a storm, Sora gets struck by lightning, resulting in the emergence of his "clone," Xion. And she's not the only one who's back. Our favorite trio now has to help Xion adjust to life on the islands. Partially-AU. Rion
1. Chapter 1

**Well, guess who's back?**

**Riku: Who're you and why are you messing with our lives?**

**Really? I'm pretty sure I've messed with you guys before. . . anyways! Here is a new Rion/RikuShi story! I really feel like this pairing needs more love, so I'll give it to them!**

**Disclaimer: Fan_fiction. _Only a fan, only fiction. Well, it would be fiction to say that I owned Kingdom Hearts. . .**

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Tintinnabulation

[tin-ti-nab-yuh-ley-shuhn]

_N._ The ringing or sound of bells

"Here kitty, kitty!" Sora stretched his arms above his head with his fingertips pointing at a particularly high branch of a tree. "You can come down." Sora continued to coax the cat down from its perch.

"Meow." The feline stared at Sora then reached a white paw out towards him, pawing at the tree bark.

"That's it! Good kitty!" Sora widened his arms, ready to catch the cat.

"This is so stupid." Kairi stared the blue-eyed boy in disbelief.

"Yeah, sure." Riku kept his eyes on his spiky-haired friend for a few more moments before rolling his eyes. "Hey, Kai." he leaned towards the girl. "How much time do we have to get to school?"

"Let's see..." Kairi glanced at her watch quickly, noticing the closeness of the dreaded time of 8:30 AM. She looked away then looked at the watch again and widened her eyes, taking in the urgency of their needed arrival. "We need to get going!" She yelled in surprise.

"Aw, come on!" Sora watched as the cat retreated to a higher branch, not paying attention to his friend's warning.

"Do you think he's listening to us?" Riku whispered to Kairi.

"Honestly? No."

"Eh, I don't have a problem with that," Riku said. " See ya, Sora!" He adjusted one strap of his backpack on his shoulder and continued walking towards the school.

"Hey! Wait up!" Sora slid his bag onto his shoulder before running to catch up with his two best friends.

"It's not my fault that you're so slow," Riku said airily as he quickened his pace, presumably only to annoy Sora.

"Well it's your fault that that cat is still stuck in a tree!" Sora gestured wildly behind him, pointing to a tall oak tree. Riku opened his mouth to argue as he walked farther away from his friend.

"I didn't do anything."

"Maybe that's the proble-"

"Shut up." Riku and Sora's eyes widened at Kairi's sudden input in their argument. Kairi looked over her shoulder at Sora. "Don't worry Sora, you're not slow, but we do need to hurry up. We don't want Mr. Hojo to get mad at us for being late."

"Heh, I'm not worried about my speed." Sora jogged up next to Kairi and slung his arms behind his head, grinning his impossibly wide Sora grin. "I'm kinda worried about the cat, though." He dropped his arms from behind his head and looked down at his oversized shoes sheepishly

"Don't worry." Kairi reached up to ruffle Sora's hair. "That cat's gonna be fine. Come on, I'll race you to school." She took off running up the hill, her school bag and red hair whipping behind her.

"Hey!" Sora ran after her, his eyes sparkling. As they traveled further from his sight, Riku started to sprint to catch up with.

"Am I a part of this race?" Riku yelled after Kairi.

"No, your legs are too long!" Kairi said as she ran faster. "It wouldn't be fair!"

Indeed, Riku's legs have gotten considerably long, along with the rest of his limbs. Growing still taller since their last adventure, he now stands at 183 cm (about 6 ft).

"Life's not fair! I'm gonna win," Riku said as he started to sprint towards the school. He quickly passed both Kairi and Sora, disappearing out of their vision.

"Well that idiot's gone." Kairi slowed to a walk and waited for Sora to do the same.

"You were trying to get rid of him?" Sora asked her as he stopped walking and looked her with his head cocked in curiosity.

"Ah, Sora. So innocent," Kairi said. She eyed Her companion with an unidentifiable fervor. No one can blame her. Her friend had grown a bit as well, though not as much Riku, but enough so that his feet don't look awkwardly large on him anymore. What mostly grew was his muscles. He had lost some of his wiriness after eating more regularly (who knows what kind of junk they had to eat while they were away) and was more toned after doing some heavy lifting for his mom's friend, who ran a delivery service. The islanders sent strange things to one another. One of the less extraordinary things was a 150 pound anvil made of pure mythril.

"Okay," Sora said. He shrugged Kairi's questionable words off and continued walking towards the school.

"...if only It was," Kairi whispered to herself as Sora walked farther and farther away. She stayed still for a moment and only stared at her feet and Sora's voice called her out of her stupor.

"Hey Kairi! We better get going! It's 8:28!" Sora yelled. He was standing on top of a hill that Kairi was at the bottom of, in the middle of a palm tree-lined road.

Kairi started to run up the hill but to catch up to Sora, not eliminate distance from the school. "Don't worry!" She called to Sora as she ran towards him. "School starts at 8:45 today!"

"What?"

"Yeah, there's been a delay because the convenience store down the street from the school was robbed." Kairi settled herself next to Sora, who was frozen in shock.

"But shouldn't we go and help?" Sora began flapping his arms at Kairi in panic. "And what about Riku? He could be in trouble or worse, waiting for us! Alone!"

He needs to get his priorities straight. Kairi looked at the boy with exasperation. "He'll be fine, the police probably finished up already, and it's not that bad for him to be alone. He can handle himself."

"Nuh-uh!" Sora looked at Kairi with a wide-eyed serious expression. "The fangirls!" He whispered harshly.

"Fangirls?" Kairi tested skeptically.

"Yeah!" Sora gave one hard nod. "Ever since school started, all these girls started chasing him and crowding around him and swarming him, even ones we don't know. It's scary, Kairi!" He was now directly in front of Kairi and clutching her by her slender shoulders in fear at the thought of it.

"I doubt that fangirls could do that much damage." Kairi slowed peeled the spiky-haired boy off her while trying to conceal a growing blush.

Sora crossed his arms and pouted as he turned away from Kairi. "You'll see."

"You weren't kidding." Kairi and Sora found their silver-headed friend cowering in terror in a tree in the courtyard of the school. "Which reminds me." Kairi turned to Sora. "Why have I never seen these fangirls in action?"

"They mostly stay away when you're with Riku because your dad's the mayor."

"Ah."

Riku poked his head down out of the foliage. "Are they gone yet?" He inquired.

"Yep, I think so, oh wait!" Kairi paused. "There's one over there!" She pointed at a random teacher.

"Eek!" Riku gave a girlish squeal and hid himself back in the tree.

"Relax, Riku. I was just kidding. Besides, I highly doubt Ms. Finn is one of your fangirls." Kairi watched as the blue haired woman walked into the building.

"The biology teacher?" Riku stuck his head out once more. "I actually think that she is the staff supervisor of my fanclub."

Kairi let out a strangled scoff. "You have a fanclub? This just keeps getting better and better."

"Yeah!" Sora nodded furiously. "It's an official school club!"

"Sora?"

"Yeah?"

"Not helping." Riku remained in the tree until the warning bell rang.

"Riku, come on." Kairi tapped on the tree with her fist twice. "We need to get to class."

"Nope," Riku called from the treetop. "Not until the coast is clear."

"Riku there's no one here besides us-"

"Mr. Hikari!"

"-and Mr. Aki," Kairi finished as the heavyset teacher stomped towards their trio.

"Mr. Hikari! I advise for you to get to class if you want your afternoon to be free." Mr. Aki shook his finger violently at Sora. "And you!" He turned to Kairi. "I don't care who your father is, you'll still get detention if you are late to class. As for you, Mr. Gallagher." Mr. Aki tilted his head up. "How many times have I told you not to climb on school property?"

"I believe this is the first time, sir." A muffled voice came from the leaves.

Mr. Aki stood dumbfounded at Riku's response as he remembered admonishing a silver haired youth at least three times. These youths happened to be Riku's cousins, Kadaj, Yazoo and Loz, but all kids looked the same to the aging teacher. "Oh, just come down there!" He pulled at Riku's uniform sleeve.

"Aah!" Riku tumbled out of the tree onto the grass. "I'm good!" He scrambled to his feet and stood up next to Sora.

Mr. Aki gave them all a wide-eyed glare and turned his body to face each one of them. "Don't let me catch you out of class again."

"Yes, sir."

"The square root of. . ." The math teacher droned on and on even though the majority of students heard nothing but white noise.

"And that's how-"

RING! RING!

The bell rang before the teacher could finish, and students filled the doorway before she could think of giving homework. The clock read three o'clock and everyone wanted out of the school and into the permanent summer paradise of Destiny Islands. Riku was at the forefront of the struggle to get out of the doorframe, and he forced himself forward out of the crowd but onto the floor.

_This can't be good. _

"Is that him?"

"Oh my god, is that Riku?"

"He's so hot!"

"Should we go say hi?"

"I kinda want to touch him." Whispers surged forth from many girls as more saw him sprawled out on the floor.

Uh, oh. Not good! Gotta get out of here...

"Hello, ladies!" Riku bolted up on his feet, pulling his schoolbag up with him.

"Hi, Riku!" All the girls answered him in unison, creepily enough. Giggles followed, and not in unison, one may add.

"Yeah, nice day, isn't it?" Riku asked as slowly backed away from the large group of squealing girls. "Yeah, I think I'll go outside and enjoy it... Outside!" He broke into a run, sprinting down the hall.

"Where is he going?"

"Wait for me!"

The majority of the girls that were standing around him started to chase after Riku, with a few left behind, who probably weren't very interested in him anyway.

I need to find Sora and Kairi, Riku thought as he ran. There they are! He grabbed Sora's arm and pulled him from where he was talking with Kairi by his locker. Kairi followed closely behind him. He ran off campus and didn't stop until he reached downtown Destiny Islands, where he hid the three of them in an alley between shops.

"Whew." Riku let go of Sora. He placed his hands on his knees as he bent over to catch his breath. "Lost them."

"I'm guessing those are the fangirls you were talking about," Kairi said from where she was peeking around the corner of one of the buildings that they were hidden between. "Now I understand why they scare you so much."

"Shhh! Get back!" Riku pulled Kairi back from the corner of the building. "They might see you!"

"Oh, don't be silly! They've already left," Kairi said as she led the boys out of the alley. "See? Oh!" She looked at one of the shops that was beside them. "I think this was the convenience store that was robbed." She started to walk to the store. "I wonder why it's not closed..."

"Wait, Kairi!" Sora stumbled after.

_Ding! Ding!_ A bell rang when Kairi opened the convenience store door. "Hey, there's Zell. Hi, Zell!" Kairi went and waved to Zell Dincht, a senior that went to the trio's school.

"Hey, Kairi." He waved back with one of his hands while he rested his head in the other.

Kairi walked up to the register. "What are you doing here so early?" Their school had only just let out.

"They needed all the adults that worked here somewhere, so I was the only one who could be here."

"Oh, right. Was it about the break in?" Kairi asked.

"Yeah. Do you know how fun it is to sit in a store for 7 hours and have absolutely no customers? Nobody's come here because of the break in. What do they think, that the robbers are hiding in the corner of the store?"

"Ah, that's okay. We're here. How about we buy something?" Kairi offered.

"That's great!" Zell's face lit up. "So, what're are you getting?"

"How about-"

Sora came up behind Kairi and interrupted her before she could speak. "Ice cream!"

"Why did you have to buy him hotdogs?" Sora whined to Kairi as she, Sora and Riku walked home with their ice cream. Kairi rolled her eyes.

"You know how much he likes hot dogs. Besides he didn't seem to be very happy."

"Okay." Sora pouted.

"Good." Kairi gave him suspecting look before looking straight ahead as they walked. "I don't know why

you're so upset," she stated after she took a lick of her Paopu ice cream bar. "It's not like I used your money to buy those hotdogs. Unless. . ." Kairi tried to conceal a sly smile. "Sora Hikari, don't tell me you're jealous." She pretended to gasp dramatically.

"What? No!" Sora laughed nervously. "Of course, I'm not jealous."

"Oh, really? Really?"

"Yeah, I'm not jealous at all! I was jealous!"

"Ha! You admitted it!" Kairi pointed at Sora, excited.

"No, I told you that I _was_ jealous. Was. Past tense. In the past!" Sora defended himself.

"Ha, ha!" Kairi chuckles at Sora's dramatic tone. "Were you really that jealous?" She asked, playfully pushing him with her shoulder.

"Well, you don't usually buy things for me." Sora frowns.

"Hey, tell you what. Next chance I get, I will buy you some food."

"Good. How about tomorrow?" Sora suggests to Kairi.

"Tomorrow's good," Kairi agrees. "It's a date!" Immediately, she wanted to take back those three words, or at least the last one. Her cheeks started to redden. _Did I just say date? _Sora, however, just smiled back. Either he did not register her words, or didn't think of them in that context. Or maybe he liked the thought that he would go on a date with her. Suddenly, the two hear a retching noise coming from behind them. They look behind them to find Riku choking on his ice cream.

"Gross, you two." Riku coughs. "Get a room." Only then did Kairi realize how close she and Sora were standing. She tried to step away from Sora as discreetly as possible

"Oh, right. Riku, I didn't see you there. . ." Kairi tries to avert her eyes from Sora's confused and surprisingly cute face. "So. . . Riku, do you actually know what was stolen from the store?"

"Yeah. Really strange, Zell said that half of their lighters and bottled waters and pool toys were missing." Riku shrugs. "There's too much missing for them to actually think that everything was misplaced. But who would steal all that stuff? Broke college students wanting to throw a pool party? Kinda strange, if you ask me." He stops in front of a white house. "I'll see you guys." He waves and walks up to the house.

"Bye, Riku!" Sora and Kairi wave over their shoulders as they keep walking. "Oh! There's my house." Kairi veers to the left and towards a large mansion. "Walk me?" She asks Sora, smiling.

"S-sure." He follows her as she walks up the long driveway. She doesn't speak until reach the front double-doors.

"Don't forget about tomorrow, okay?" She opens one the doors and turns to face Sora in the doorway.

"I won't. And I'll make sure to tell Riku." He smiles before waving to Kairi and leaving.

"Yeah, Riku." Kairi's face falls as Sora turns away. She slowly closes the door, cursing her silver haired friend.

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**What do you think? The next chapter is coming soon, I already finished it! But I don't want to post it until I make any leeway on chapter 3. . .**

**I will read all reviews, even if I don't reply. . . so can you give that little button some love down there?**


	2. Chapter 2

**Here's the new chapter! I forgot to mention last chapter that this story is set in a world if the series stopped at the end of KH 2. We all know the series is not over, that is why this story is technically AU. But the nature of the world(s) is still the same as it is in the original stories. Enjoy!**_  
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**Disclaimer: Don't own. Happy now?**

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Tintinnabulation

[tin-ti-nab-yuh-ley-shuhn]

_N._ The ringing or sound of bells

_Boom!_

Another roar of thunder shakes Sora's house as he presses the pillow closer to his head. The room lights up when a bolt of lightning strikes dangerously close to the window. Sora whimpers as he catches sight of the chaotic rain pouring down outside. In the distance, the trees on the islands were almost ripped from the ground.

_Dang, there hasn't been a storm this bad since the Heartless- wait._ His eyes widen as he throws his pillow in the ground and sits up in his bed. He rushes over to the window and tries to see if there is any suspicious activity on the Island. Unfortunately, the rain blocks his view.

"I'll check it out for myself," he thinks out loud. For some reason, he doesn't see anything wrong with going out in a boat in the middle of a thunderstorm. Oh, well.

Somewhere in another house, Riku lies awake on from the storm also, but unlike his spiky-haired best friend, he seems calm. That is, he was calm until he saw his best friend row out to sea in a thunderstorm.

"That idiot." He jumps out of bed to retrieve his jacket, readying himself to follow Sora. He slides open his bedroom window and leaps out. He runs all the to the dock, calling out to Sora even though he probably can't hear him through the storm. He jumps into a small rowboat and starts rowing as hard he can towards the Island. He's halfway there when a bolt of lightning illuminates the sky, followed by clap of thunder so loud that it was applause. Riku turns around and squints through the rain, just barely making out a spiky-headed figure collapse onto the sand.

"Sora!" He yells even though storm and the fact that the boy is unconscious make it futile. In his panic, he quickly makes it to the island. Speeding faster than a bolt of the ever-present lightning, he makes his way over to his friend on the beach. Sora looks like a fried porcupine. (A/N: Sounds delicious. Mmmm.) If it was even possible, the lightning made his hair stand up even more, despite the rain. The edges of absolutely everything were charred, from his hair to his clothes . . . _everything_. Riku throws Sora over his shoulder and runs back to his boat and sets him on the floor.

"Come on, buddy, we got to get you inside," Riku says to comfort more of himself than Sora, seeing as he can't hear him. He quickly reaches the main island in almost no time, something only possible in his current adrenaline-fueled state. He flings Sora over his shoulder again and runs to the nearest house of someone he knows - Kairi. He rings the doorbell, praying that his auburn-haired friend will be the one to open the door. Thankfully, the girl quickly answers the door, clad in pajamas and a light pink bathrobe. The two stare at each other silently for a moment, one because the other carried a fried porcupine, the other because of her completely pink attire and unkempt red hair.

"What?" They say simultaneously. Kairi widens her eyes at the sight of the boy that Riku is carrying.

"Oh, my God. Is that Sora?" She asks. Not waiting for a response, she pulls Riku through the door and leads him into the living room. "Put him down on the couch," she directs him. He gently sets him down on the couch.

"I was thinking you might be able to get him a doctor," Riku says. "They might come quicker because your dad is, you know."

"Yeah, they might respond quicker than they would at any other time, but Riku, it's," she glances at the clock, "Three in the morning. I don't think they'll come any time soon."

"That's fine." Riku crosses his arms. "I had a feeling that this would happen."

"Then why did you bring him here?" Kairi angrily whisper-yells, not wanting to alert anyone else in the house.

"Did you learn any magic?" Kairi stares back at Riku blankly. "You know, from any of the princesses, Donald, Aerith . . . Anyone."

"Yeah." She hesitates. "A little." Displaying probably the literal amount of her knowledge between her thumb and index finger.

"Good, I'll need you cast a Cure spell on him."

"What?" Kairi can't help but yell. "Why can't you do it yourself?"

"It's not like I'm asking you to part the sea!" Riku rolls his eyes. "Just a simple Cure spell. Not even Cura."

". . .Fine." She scrunches up her face and kneels down next to Sora on the couch. She hovers her hands over his body.

"You need to touch him," Riku whispers in a slightly suggestive manner.

"Shut up." Kairi turns around and glares at him. Riku is not-so-subtly smirking.

"No, but seriously, you have to touch him," he says, no longer smiling. "It will strengthen the spell's effects a little."

"Yeah, yeah," Kairi tries to sound nonchalant as she lays her hands on Sora's torso, but she can't help but redden at the contact. Focus, Kairi. Behind her, she hears Riku snicker, but she is too fixated on the spell now. "Cure," she whispers, focusing all her energy into healing Sora.

"It's working," Riku says softly, raising his eyebrows as green energy flows from Kairi's palms. "I think you're good." Immediately she relaxes as she falls onto Sora, resting her arms. "It takes a lot out of you, doesn't it?"

"Yeah." Kairi sluggishly pulls herself up away from the couch. Riku walks over to her picks up Sora.

"He looks much better, but we should still take him to a doctor, just in case."

"Yeah." Kairi struggles to stay awake.

"You should go back to sleep, I'll take Sora home," Riku assures her.

" 'Kay. Thanks, Riku." Kairi yawns as she makes her way to the stairs. Riku nods at her before walking to the door with Sora.

"Come on, let's get you home," He says, not expecting an answer. His eyes widen when he sees Sora's crack open slightly.

"Riku. . ."

"Yeah?"

"I'm hungry."

Riku scrunches up his face, conflicted whether to be happy that his friend is awake or annoyed that he wants food at a time like this. "Don't make me knock you out again."

_*Cue relaxing morning piano music*_

_Ding-dong!_

"Hello, Mrs. Hikari."

"Riku! How nice to see you," Sora's mom greets him. "I'm sorry, Sora isn't awake yet. You want some breakfast while you wait?"

"It's fine, Mrs. Hikari, I already ate. How about I wake up Sora for you?" Riku offers as he steps into the house.

"Oh, really? Thank you, so much!"

"No problem," Riku says as he runs up the stairs. "Sora!" He calls when he reaches his friend's bedroom. "Get up!" He yells as he pounds on the door. There is no answer. "Okay, I'm going in and personally pulling your ass out of bed." He bursts through the door. "Sora, wake up - wha?" Riku quickly runs back out of the room and slams the door when he sees not one, but two unconscious figures in the room, one of which is unfamiliar, female, and very much naked.

"Riku! Is he up yet?" Sora's mom calls from downstairs.

_Crap._ "Um, not yet. Just a second!" _I have to get that girl out of there. . . But first, I need to clothe her._ Riku wearily reenters Sora's room, making sure to shield his eyes. He makes his way over to the closet and pulls out Sora's blue bathrobe. He walks over to the girl, trying not to stare, and carefully wraps the robe around, tying it tightly. Though he tries not look at her body, he can't help but feel that he recognizes the short black bob the girl sports. His eyes flicker to the bed where Sora was still sleeping. _Good. _He lets out a sigh of relief as he pulls out his phone to text Kairi.

Riku Gallagher: _Hey, Kai, can you come to Sora's house? Don't go in, though. Go stand outside of the window in Sora's room._

Kairi Winters: _Kay. Why?_

Riku Gallagher: _Um, kinda hard to explain._

Kairi Winters: _Try me._

Riku Gallagher: _There's a girl here. . . She's unconscious. But I swear, I don't know her._

Kairi Winters: _What?_

Riku Gallagher: _I've never seen her before in my life, but maybe you know her. She has short black hair, a little small, pretty._

Kairi Winters: _Pretty?_

Riku Gallagher: _Pretend I didn't put that last part._

Riku looks up from his phone and down at the girl again. _But she _is_ pretty. . . _Riku quickly breaks his gaze away from her when his phone vibrates again.

Kairi Winters: _Short black hair? Shiki Misaki? _Kairi names a girl from school.

Riku Gallagher: _No, I know Shiki. This is definitely not her._

Kairi Winters: _Well, I'll see for myself soon._

Riku Gallagher: _R u here?_

Kairi Winters: _Yeah._

Riku walks over to the window and sure enough, there is Kairi, standing below in the yard. He makes sure to send her a text of his plans.

Riku Gallagher: _K, this could be a little tricky, since I'm on the 2nd floor. I'm going to carry her out the window._

Kairi Winters: _What? Are u crazy?_

Riku Gallagher: _How do you think I got Sora home last night?_

Kairi Winters: _The front door?_

Riku Gallagher: _No! We can't have his parents find out that he was hit by lightning! Especially since we healed him with magic._

Kairi Winters: _You have a point. Okay, do your thing._

Riku takes one more look at Sora to make sure he is still asleep before he quietly slides the window open and carefully puts the girl in a fireman's lift. He quickly jumps from the window.

"Is this her?" Kairi asks once he reaches the ground.

"Yeah, I -" Riku stops talking when he notices Kairi looking disapprovingly at the girl. "What?"

"You could have at least put actual clothes on her!"

"Well, sorry." Riku rolls his eyes. "Tell you what, why don't you bring her to your house and you can dress her up."

"Seriously?" Kairi's face brightens up at the idea of someone to, ahem, dress up. Being friends with Riku and Sora does have disadvantages, and even when she hung out with Selphie, she was always on the receiving end of any sort of "makeover."

"Yeah, she looks about your size," Riku says hesitantly. "Just don't go overboard, okay?" He looks at Kairi pleadingly.

"I won't!" Kairi is already halfway down the street, dragging the still unconscious girl behind her. Riku tries not to worry too much about the girl as he somehow climbs back in through Sora's window. Immediately, he grabs Sora by his pajama shirt and drags him out of bed and out of his room.

"Ow!"

"Rise and shine, sleepyhead!" He greets Sora as he tows him down the stairs. "I got him, Mrs. Hikari."

"Thanks, Riku," Sora's mom says after taking a sip of coffee at the table.

"You okay, Sora? You look a little beat up," Sora's dad says as he looks up from the morning paper.

"Yeah, this guy just dragged me down the stairs," Sora says sarcastically as he rubs his slightly injured head.

Riku shrugs. "Hey, extreme situations call for extreme measures."

"And me sleeping is an extreme situation?" Sora yells. Riku flinches before rolling his eyes at Sora's words.

"Go eat some breakfast, idiot. I'm going to text someone about something. And don't forget, we're meeting up with Kairi later."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Sora waves his silver-haired friend off, eager to eat. Getting struck by lightning does wonders for your appetite, whether you know you got hit or not. Riku chuckles as he steps out into the Hikari's living room.

Kairi Winters: _You know the girl from earlier?_

Riku Gallagher: _How can I forget?_

Kairi Winters: _Her name is Xion._

Riku Gallagher: _Did she tell you?_

Riku widens his eyes at the discovery.

Kairi Winters: _Not exactly. . . Namine told me._

Riku Gallagher: _Namine? Your Nobody?_

Kairi Winters: _It's a little hard to explain. I'll tell you more about it later when we meet up. HDL's sound good?_

Riku smiles. HDL stands for Huey, Dewey, and Louie, Donald's nephews. The three ducklings started the ice cream franchise around a decade ago and there seem to be at least on every world where anyone likes ice cream, which is, of course, all worlds.

Riku Gallagher: _Kay. See u._

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**So, I'm not going to update until I get a review! Just kidding, I'm not that cruel.**_  
_

**Sora: What are you talking about? You struck me with lightning!**

**What are you talking about? That was mother nature! Anyways, I'm going to be away from home for, I don't know, two weeks. It will be a little bit of time before I update. Review! I know someone is reading this . . .**

**But really, I'd love to see your thoughts on this, even though the story isn't too far along.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Um, so it's been over a month, and I'm kind of to blame for that, I guess. But I'm back, and I hope you'll enjoy this new chapter!**

**Disclaimer: Don't own. But guess who got Dream Drop Distance for her birthday?**

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"Who's the girl?" Sora asks as he follows Riku into the downtown ice cream parlor.

"Uh, you'll find out." Riku walks over to the round, white table where Kairi sat with the girl, Xion. Xion's lips are pressed in a hard line as she stares at her sea-blue ice cream bar. "So, did you find anything else out?" Riku asks as he slides into the chair across from Kairi and next to Xion. Kairi shakes her head.

"Not exactly. She hasn't really said anything."

Riku nods and leans back in his chair, accepting her answer even though he is unsatisfied.

"So, Kairi," Sora says. "Who is she?" He blatantly points across the table at Xion, who is eating her ice cream.

"Sora, it's rude to point!" Kairi looks mortified as she pushes down his outstretched hand. "This is Xion."

"Oh, is she a transfer student?" Sora asks, not considering that this girl could be anything besides a normal human being.

"Um, kinda. She's not from Destiny Islands."

"Oh, that's cool." Sora eyes widen, clearly interested. Not a lot of people move to Destiny Islands. "Where are you from?" He asks Xion. She doesn't answer.

"Um, that's the thing." Kairi shakily laughs. "She's not from this world."

"Wait, what?" Sora tilts his head in confusion.

"Yeah, what?" Riku shoots a glance at Kairi that says, You didn't tell me this. "I thought you said she hasn't talked!"

"She hasn't. Naminé told me all this." Riku stares back at Kairi blankly.

"I'm sorry, I still can't get over the fact that you can talk to your Nobody," he says.

Kairi rolls her eyes and turns to Sora. "Sora, do you think you can ask Roxas about Xion?"

Immediately, Sora freezes up in panic at Kairi's question. "Roxas? Uh, I can try. . ." He scrunches his face up in concentration.

"Don't hurt yourself, man." Riku snickers at Sora's effort.

"Shut up." Sora blindly bats at his silver-haired friend, fairly insulted. _Um, Roxas?_

_What?_

"Whoa!" Sora yells in surprise, almost jumping out of his seat. "It worked!"

"Be quiet, Sora," Kairi hisses. "People are staring."

"Right, sorry." He sheepishly rubs his head. Again, he closes his eyes in concentration. _Roxas, do you know a girl named Xion?_

_Xion? I don't think so._

Sora's face visibly fell. _Okay. _"He doesn't know anything," he announces disappointedly.

"That's fine. Naminé said that she erased any memories of her," Kairi says. She nonchalantly spoons a scoop of her Paopu ice cream into her mouth. "So, long story short, Xion is your, or Roxas', imperfect clone created by Organization XIII."

"Wait, clone?" Sora's mouth hung open from both astonishment and horror. "But she's a girl!"

"I said, 'imperfect,' Sora." Kairi sighs. "Anyways, she was with the Organization for a bit as their sort of fourteenth member. But she held some of Sora's memories, so you, Riku," Kairi points to her silver-headed companion, "had to retrieve her so Sora could regain all his memories."

"How come I don't remember any of this?" Riku asks.

"I did say that all memories of her were erased," Kairi states, irritated that none of her friends understand the concept of erased memories.

"Wait, if she's here, does that mean the Organization is back?" Sora asks.

"I don't think so. I don't understand any of the mechanics behind it," Kairi self-consciously taps her index fingers together. "But I'm pretty sure her appearing has to do with you getting struck by lightning."

"Struck by lightning?" Sora is surprised to hear this and rushes to examine himself for any signs of damage.

Riku slams his face down on the table at Sora's stupidity. "I swear, if you forgot every stupid thing you did, we'd have a lot of explaining to do." His annoyed statement comes out muffled. He quickly pulls his head up from the table. "Don't bother looking, Kairi healed you."

"Ooh, really?" Sora turns to Kairi with wide, bright eyes. "I didn't know you could use magic. That's so cool!"

"Yeah, Aerith taught me a little." Kairi tries to cover her blushing cheeks. She turns sideways in her chair, away from Sora. "Um, let's get some ice cream now." She stands and heads for the counter, her eyes avoiding Sora.

"Okay!" Sora grins, happy to finally get ice cream. "You're paying, right?" He asks as he follows Kairi to the counter, remembering her promise from the other day.

"Um, yeah." She stares at the ice cream, not looking at Sora when she talks. "Excuse me, can I have a scoop of Paopu fruit ice cream in a cup and . . . Sora, what do you want?" Kairi finally turns to look at Sora, but looks at his nose, deliberately avoiding his gaze.

"I'll have Paopu too! But two scoops, and in a cone."

As he flashes her another signature Sora grin, Kairi can't help but think about shared Paopu fruits and intertwined destinies.

"Miss? Miss!" The worker pulls Kairi out of her romantic daydream when he holds out the cup and cone to her.

"Huh? Oh, thank you." Kairi takes the ice cream from

the worker. "Hey, Sora? Can you hold these while pay?"

"Okay."

Kairi places the ice cream in his outstretched hands, blushing when her skin brushes Sora's. She quickly turns back to the counter to hand the cashier the money.

"Thank you very much. That will be 800 munny."

Kairi nods and hands the man a 1000 munny bill. As he hands back her change, she hears a voice eerily similar to her own yell, "Hey, give that back!"

"Mmm, this is actually really good!" She hears Riku say soon after.

Kairi slowly turns around to face their table, and sees Riku holding Xion's ice cream cone away from the girl. He manages to take one more lick of the salty-sweet treat before Xion snatches it away.

"Mine," she claims before happily licking her ice cream.

After hearing Xion say something, Kairi rushes back to the table with Sora trailing behind, holding the ice cream. "So, she speaks." She stares at the black-haired girl hard, making her squirm uncomfortably.

"Um, can you stop staring? You're making me uncomfortable." Xion momentarily stops eating her ice cream to voice her request to Kairi.

"Don't worry, she does that to everyone." Riku snickers and rolls his eyes. "Hey!" He jumps out of his seat to avoid a fist from Kairi. "What was that for?"

"I don't make people uncomfortable!" She huffs. "Right, Sora?" She turns to Sora, her eyes daring him to disagree.

"U-um, no! You don't!" Sora grins, but it seems forced. It is obvious that Kairi made him uncomfortable as well. Well, it was to Riku. Kairi doesn't seem to notice.

"See?" She looks smugly at her silver haired companion, satisfied that she has seemingly won this battle. Riku just rolls his eyes.

"I see that you made Sora uncomfortable, too. That's what I see." He smirks as Kairi fumes.

"Shut up!" She pouts and leans back in her wrought iron chair with her arms crossed. To her comfort, it seems that Sora has seemingly forgot all about her interrogations in the past three minutes, and was in the mood to compliment her.

"Hey, Kairi, you look nice today." Whether it is because she looks particularly nice this day, or if he is trying to butter her up is debatable.

"Really? Thank you." Kairi tucks a strand of auburn hair behind her ear while Riku scoffs. "But who you all should really be paying attention to is Xion. I spent all morning working on her."

"Working on her? What is she, a car?" Riku's eyes widen in horror, scared and feeling sorry for what the poor black-haired girl had to go through.

Kairi glares at Riku and walks around to put her hands on Xion's shoulders. "What she is, is super cute."

"Huh?" Xion stops eating her ice cream with a panicked look in her wide eyes.

"Stand up!" Kairi tells Xion. She doesn't give a choice as she pulls her up by her shoulders. "Observe." Kairi uses her hand to present Xion to the boys. Riku finally gets a look at the petite girl. Xion shifts uncomfortably under the silver-haired bishi's gaze and pulls at the rolled up sleeves of her gray-tan button up shirt. The shirt was unbuttoned, revealing her olive green tank top. A pair of white shorts held up by a brown belt completed the look. It was an excellent look for the black-haired girl, or so Kairi thought. Unfortunately for Kairi, the outfit she spent all morning putting together only looks like a shirt and shorts to the boys.

"Observe what? She's just wearing clothes." Riku stares blankly at the small girl. His lack of reaction makes Kairi boil in fury.

"Just clothes?" Her brow twitches as she fumes beside Xion. "I spent all morning looking for the right pair of shorts that would showcase her legs perfectly. See?" She shuffles Xion over to the space right beside Riku. "Even though her legs are actually pretty short, they're slim, so shorts this length are perfect for her!" She gets on her knees and faces Xion to get a better look at her, and Riku disappears from her vision. When she fails to hear any reaction from Riku, she jumps back her face to scold him once again for his absence of expression. Instead, she is greeted with a slightly red faced, silent Riku.

The proverbial light bulb lights up in Kairi's head. Needless to say, she has come up with a plan for much needed revenge against Riku Gallagher, and that plan included a certain black-haired newcomer.

* * *

**It's a little short (like me), but I'm already working on the next chapter.**

**Also, shameless self plug here, if you like the RoxasxNaminé pairing, I have an AU story, Take a Dance on Me. If you like this story, or even if you don't, go check it out.**

**Random Fact: I uploaded this the day after my birthday.  
**


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